The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-07-15
OUR BOSTON LETTER.
A NEW SCHEME FOR CHEAPENlNG
. READY-MADE CLOTHING.


Boston Manufacturers Placing Contracts
In Maine and New York-Natives Still
in the Majority at the Hub-Editorial
Imaginations Overworked.
Boston July IS.
A young man, upon whom his newspaper
brethren are keeping a friendly eye, and
loading many friendly puff, is Sydney
Dickinson, the art lecturer, who used to
work hard for The journal, and has
lately been loafing among the
sensuous luxuries Of Hawaii. The
opera bouffe civil war there will
make fine contrast for his
lectures hereafter on tho languorous beau
ties Of the isles. Before returning home he
will sail for France to gain more material to
talk about, as well a. to have his stereopti-
con negatives tinted.
~.
Padding or manufacturing Especial ca
blegrams' is q nearly obsolete custom in
Boston, but there are still occasional out
breaks of this kind. The ''Reckid, +" as the
newsboys call tho afternoon sheet, aban-
doned its homespun foreign correspondence
some weeks ago. The Globe had good bit
of padding last week, the morning after
the disaster at Zug, Switzerland, when it
stretched the Associated Press account of
the calamity to three times it's original
length. Where the press dispatch had
half dozen words about the finding of
baby floating in cradle, The Globe had q
dozen lines of pathetic theorizing about the
incident-"Did the cradle slide through
window or through chimney?'' or was it
another Moses-in- -the-bulrushes affair, etc.
In that way the whole dispatch was wa
tered, doubtless with the effect of making
the story more vivid to the non-imaginative
reader.
The Globe acts habitually on the theory
that it pays better to water than to boil
news. Its space writer's developed such
facility for putting, a one-line fact in
twenty line dressing that the paper had, in
selfdefense, to put the most expert Of them
on salary. E ~
This tendency, however, doesn't alter the
fact that it is one OF the foremost OF news
getters. Through it's alliance with The
New York World it often distances the
other morning papers in publishing impor-
tant articles The World and The Globe
were the only papers in the eastern part of
the country that published the presidents
st. Louis letter the morning after it was
given out H
~x Ha isNty
Most news editors N these parts have a
vivid remembrance of The Globes "Fall
* Khartoum" article, sSssA asss h .,ss
1t was published at the time when Khar-
toum was cut of from all prospect of
succor, and the hordes Of the Mahdi were
pressing closer and closer upon the dis
A .l
for the final catastrophe, and news editors
mourned over the difficulty Of getting in
formation. Finally, one night came the
rumor that Khartoum had fallen. The
Globe saw its chance for big exclusive.
Its news service then was contemplate
compared with what it is to-day, but it
possessed the two important factors of
cheek and imagination, and knew how to
use them. So the next morning it pub
lished special cablegram from Cairo, a
column long, with half column head, CIV
ing the full details of the capture of Khar-
toum by the savages, describing the move
ments of each Of their large divisions, tell
ing how each reached position for the
final rush upon the defenses Or was posted
to cut OFT the retreat OF the garrison by
river or land, giving also description OF
the butchery of the defenders and specula-
tions as to the probable fate of their COM
manders.
1t was all very pretty and picturesque
and big scoop on the other papers, but
unfortunately, khartoum had not fallen:
an accurate statement of the situation came
that very day; Khartoum held out several
weeks longer, and the Globes Cairo cor
respondent in South Boston had time to ~
ieve his fevered brain in writing circus
posters before the end was reached.
The employees of the clothing manufac-
tories of this city have hard time all the
year round, but just now they are feeling
particularly depressed because the manu-
tacturers are sending large quantities of
clothing to New York to he sewed, tene-
ment house contractors there giving lower
prices even than those paid here. This is
usually the busiest season of the year, bring
ing with it an advance in wages, but this
year is marked by reduction of pay, caused
by the New York competition. A move
ment is making toward national trade
union to prevent this sort of thing
and convention will be soon held
either in this city or New York.
1t appears also, from petition presented
to the Central Labor union by the tailoIs,
that some of the cheap contract sewing is
given out to parties in Maine, where the
work is done from 80 to 35 per cent. cheaper
than in Boston LAS an instance, it takes
man, his wife and daughter week to make
$40 or $12, working from early morn until
late at night. In fact, in the state of Maine
there are men and women over ~ years of
age and young children shaving their lives
away for $3 and "a week. The contractors
who take their work to New York divide it
UP among different tenement houses, and the
people engaged there are Hungarians, Bohe-
mians, Poles and Italians, who work, for
almost pittance, between fourteen and
fifteen hours a day."
1t also charged that this practice involves
fraud upon the customers who buy the
ready made goods, for whereas Boston gar
ments have had a reputation for being reli-
ably sewn with silk and cotton the poor peo-
pie who do this outside work are compelled
to buy cotton of the commonest kind out of
their small pittance.
The Chinese are a much misunderstood
race. told your readers last week some
thing about the bright young Chinese
graduate Of Yale who has married New
Haven heiress. have since gained some
inf OF oh .oY7